Your world is going to change sooner rather than later and it will happen with Quantum computers. Quantum Computers are changing from something theoretical to being very practical. Quantum computing could change our understanding of the living world. It could transform medicine, break encryption and revolutionize communications and artificial intelligence. With large tech companies coming into the foreplay like Microsoft’s Azure Quantum and Honeywell which are offering other ways for organizations across the globe to be introduced to quantum computing. IBM and Google are competing to model a dependable quantum computer. The question that still stands is are just Quantum computers meant to be just the faster version of traditional computers?
A traditional computer uses bits to process information. But quantum computing depends on bits that have properties of quantum physics called qubits. Bits are either ‘0’ or ‘1’ but qubits can exist in both states at the same time because of the property of quantum mechanics termed as superposition. Since things are not so simple as on or off as suggested by ‘0’ or ‘1’ in traditional computers, in nature things are uncertain and hence pose a problem to the traditional computer whereas a quantum computer can accommodate information for variables and produce a better result. To explain things further consider a maze which just many routes but only one leads to the destination a traditional computer will go through each route one by one and then decide the correct route, on the other hand, a quantum computer will go through them all at once and find the correct route. The other thing apart from superposition that qubits can do is called entanglement. In entanglement, two particles are joined together, even if they’re substantially different. Being more efficient from traditional computers, quantum computers will let us do things that we couldn’t even have contemplated without them. They have the potential to advance the growth of artificial intelligence. Science will grow in leaps and bounds when we have a computer that understands the chemistry of the molecule at the quantum level working on the same properties. President of Honeywell’s quantum business Tony Uttley responded to a question on the ability of Quantum computers as,
“Pharmaceutical companies could accelerate the discovery of new drugs, materials companies could discover new molecular structures, finance companies could develop new trading strategies, transportation companies could optimize logistics, and companies relying on the output of the machine and deep learning could perform analyses that are impossible with classical computing of today.”
Quantum computers will find use anywhere where there’s a large, uncertain complex system that needs to be imitated.The question still is when I as an end consumer will receive this product. And the answer is we cannot be certain because right now quantum computers require a suitable environment to be able to function such as zero degree temperatures and are as big as early computers used to be. Most of the big breakthroughs have been in a controlled environment. The form of quantum computers we possess right now is powerful but less reliable. Google in 2019 claimed they achieved Quantum supremacy but their claimed were objected by other companies reporting Google had not used the full potential of the modern supercomputers. It has also been claimed that useful quantum computers can never be built because of the inevitability of random errors in hardware daunting engineering challenges and other complications. We never know what the future may hold, nobody imagined computers the way they are today.
